


interrogation

by astralpenguin



Series: lead me to a future [2]
Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Maze, Childhood Friends, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Newt (Maze Runner) Has a Crush, One-Sided Attraction, Other Characters Are Mentioned, at least that's what he thinks, guess who it's on, it's barely referenced but it is referenced, teresa asks him about it, they're 10/11 years old
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-10
Updated: 2018-05-10
Packaged: 2019-05-04 23:34:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14604171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astralpenguin/pseuds/astralpenguin
Summary: "You’re allowed to like Tommy, you know.”“I know.” She shrugged. “But I don’t.Youdo, though.”can probably be read as a standalone





	interrogation

**Author's Note:**

> i have no control over my life at all. dreams suggested that i write this and i just _had_ to
> 
> this is the conversation that newt alludes to in chapter 37 of [i was the only one who was looking at you](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13758102/chapters/33587064)

Newt was a smart kid.

True, he wasn’t the best at maths or science. That honour belonged to Thomas, especially over the last couple of weeks. But one thing that he prided himself on was his ability to tell if there was something wrong with someone.

He was less proud of his unwillingness to deal with anything more serious than cold hands, or a childish argument. He’d thought that it wasn’t any of his business. If he was being fair to himself, he hadn’t known _how_ to help. He was just a kid. What could _he_ do?

But seeing Thomas suddenly start trying so hard to protect Teresa from her mother had given him a sharp kick up the butt.

It was a little odd that Captain Oblivious had actually noticed something. Even more so that he was doing something about it, and that he seemed to care so much about a girl that he’d barely spoken to before a couple of weeks ago.

But Newt admired him for it.

He’d admired Thomas for a lot of things for a long time.

Newt was a smart kid.

 _Especially_ when it came to his own feelings.

He recognised that what he felt for Thomas was different from how he felt about any of his other friends. His skin didn’t feel like it was on fire when it came into contact with Minho’s. His heart didn’t start pounding so hard he could feel it when he was left alone with Alby. He didn’t find himself drawing Siggy, or any items he associated with him, whenever he let himself doodle without thinking.

But Thomas was Captain Oblivious. He probably didn’t even know that boys could like other boys like that. Newt wasn’t about to try and find out, either.

He’d been thinking over all this, for what felt like the millionth time, while watching Thomas and Minho enthusiastically discuss the comic that Minho’d brought in. They’d both just finished reading it, and had apparently interpreted a plot point differently. Their voices were loud, but they were both grinning, clearly having fun.

Newt was content to just watch them talk.

So that’s what he did, until somebody waved a hand in front of his face.

“Yes, Teresa?”

“Oh, sorry.” Out of the corner of his eye he saw her grin sheepishly. “I thought you’d zoned out. You haven’t moved in a while.”

Newt lifted his head off of where it had been resting in the palm of his hand, and sat up properly, looking towards the girl sitting next to him. “That enough movement for you?”

She giggled softly. “I was just checking.”

Newt nodded, and turned back towards his other friends’ debate. They seemed to have moved on to the quality of a fight scene. Newt hadn’t read the comic, so couldn’t join in, but he was sure that Thomas was probably right.

He shook his head slightly to banish the thought. He wasn’t surprised that he’d thought that, but he could still be rational even despite his crush. He had no opinion on the matter, and if one of them asked him for backup _that’s what he would say._

He felt a tap on his shoulder.

He sighed and turned to face her again. “Yes?”

“I need to talk to you.”

Newt shrugged. “Go on then.”

She chuckled. “I need to talk to you in private.”

“No one’s listening right now.”

Teresa lowered her voice. “Tom could overhear us.”

“So?”

Instead of answering, Teresa stood. She grabbed Newt’s sleeve and pulled him out of his chair. She didn’t get far before he wrenched his arm back, but he decided that following her would be a better idea than letting her physically drag him off. He was fine with just being metaphorically dragged, thank you very much.

They left the classroom and stopped a few meters down the hallway. There was nobody else around.

“Okay,” sighed Newt, “what is it? What’s so important that you have to tell me alone and you can’t let Tommy hear?”

She grinned, a mischievous glint clear in her eyes. It made Newt feel nervous all of a sudden, although he couldn’t pinpoint why.

He laughed nervously. “Have you decided that Minho’s been right all along?”

She laughed, then, like he’d just said something incredibly funny. “Minho’s still wrong, don’t worry.”

“Why would I be worried? You’re allowed to like Tommy, you know.”

“I know.” She shrugged. “But I don’t. _You_ do, though.”

Newt physically took a step backwards. “No I don’t.”

Teresa followed him with a step forwards. “Yes you do.”

He shook his head. “I do not. You’ve got it wrong.”

She rolled her eyes. “Denial doesn’t suit you.”

“It’s not denial. I don’t have a crush on him.”

“Alright, then it’s lying that doesn’t suit you. Either way, you’re terrible at it.”

Newt crossed his arms and let his gaze move just to the side of her head. He couldn’t look her in the eye. He couldn’t look at the laughter residing there.

If she’d figured it out, and she’d only been their friend for a short while, then who else had? How many? Sonya probably knew, and Siggy had said something once that implied that he knew too. Newt had ignored him at the time, and Siggy hadn’t brought it up again, but he’d been an idiot to forget about it! Who else knew? Had they been talking about it behind his back? Did everyone know? Shucking hell, if everyone knew, then-

“Newt!”

“Huh?”

Teresa placed a hand on his shoulder. “You okay? I wasn’t trying to freak you out.”

Newt nodded. “I know, it’s fine, I’m good.”

“You don’t look it.”

“I swear I’m fine.” He ran a hand through his hair in what he hoped came across as being casual, but really was just him trying to find something to do with his hand other than biting his nails.

She didn’t buy it.

She just raised an eyebrow and said, “All you’re doing is convincing me that you like him.”

“What’s made you think I have a crush on him?”

“Hmm, let me see.” She pretended to think for a few seconds, then said, “You spend all your time with him, like way more than anyone else. When you look at him it’s like your eyes have been replaced with giant hearts. You practically hang off of every word he says. There’s also literally everything that happened last Thursday. I mean, you gave him some of your clothes, Newt. We were all cold but _he’s_ the only one you offered something to change into, and-”

“You were all cold, but he was cold _and_ drenched,” Newt corrected. “Giving him something to change into wasn’t anything to do with that. I’d have done it for anyone in a similar state, but nobody else was.”

“But I bet you _liked_ seeing him in your clothes, didn’t you?”

Newt opened his mouth to respond, but no sound came out. He’d been trying not to think about it. _That_ was something that he _didn’t_ fully understand, but he understood enough that he knew that thinking about Thomas wearing his clothes was a bad idea. But now Teresa had got him thinking about it.

“See?” she said. “You don’t have a comeback, because I’m right.”

“No,” he said, fully aware of how pathetic his voice sounded, “you’re not right. You’re completely wrong.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Am I though?”

He didn’t say anything, instead sending her a challenging stare. She responded in kind, leading to an impromptu staring contest between them.

He lost.

When he blinked, he slumped his shoulders in defeat.

“Fine, okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay you’re right. I like him.”

“That’s great!” He looked up to see her grinning widely.

“Please don’t tell anyone.”

Her smile dropped a little. “Why not?”

“Because I don’t want people to know. I don’t want _Tommy_ to know.”

“How come? Doesn’t it make more sense for you to tell him how you feel?”

He shook his head frantically. “Definitely not. He doesn’t feel the same, it’ll just make it weird. And I don’t want everyone else knowing, either.”

“You don’t want them knowing you like Tom, or you don’t want them knowing you like a boy? And how do you know he doesn’t feel the same?”

“Both. And he’s one of my best friends, and I’m good at telling how people are feeling. If he had a crush on _anyone,_ I’d know about it.”

“Or you’re just not spotting it this time because it’s Tom and therefore you’re biased?”

“Teresa, I’d really rather not get my hopes up. It’s just a crush. It’ll probably have disappeared by summer at the latest.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

He shrugged. “Then it doesn’t. There’s not much I can do about it, in that case.”

“How long have you liked him?”

He shrugged again.

“When did you _realise_ you liked him?”

“What is this, 20 questions?”

She laughed. “Sorry, sorry. I’ll stop.” She caught his eye and smiled sincerely. “I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

He breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

“I can’t promise I won’t heavily imply it, though.”

“Could you please try not to do that?”

“I can _try,_ but I can’t _promise._ ”

Newt shook his head in exasperation. “At least you’re being honest.”

“Yeah, but he’s kinda dumb. Unless I actually say _‘Newt’s in love with you’_ he won’t have a clue, and even _then_ I still think he might not realise.”

Newt couldn’t help but laugh along with her. She wasn’t exactly wrong.

**Author's Note:**

> there will be more oneshots at some point : D
> 
> hmu on [tumblr](http://astralpenguin.tumblr.com/)


End file.
